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Cloud-Based Gaming Service Shadow Coming To US

Consumers desiring an alternative to constantly upgrading their PC gaming rig can also pre-order their physical component. 

Blake Morse

January 5, 2018 12:44 PM

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CES is just a few days away and Blade (no relation to the vampire hunter) is getting an early start by announcing the pre-order sale of the physical component of their new cloud-based PC app Shadow. As of January 4th residents of California can pre-order the box in advance of the service's US launch.

Blade claims that its software will break the cycle of planned obsolescence by allowing consumers access to a high-end PC anywhere on their phones, tablets and even Mac products.

From their press release: “The Shadow technology relocates the most powerful components of a PC into the cloud so hardware never breaks or becomes outdated, unlocking customers from an endless cycle of spending and upgrading. It brings massive computing power — high speed, low latency, crystal-clear graphics and data security — through partnerships with Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD and Equinix. Shadow is powerful enough to meet the demands of serious gamers, allowing them to trade their bulky, loud, hot gaming computers for a hardware-free gaming experience.”

While Shadow itself is a cloud-based app you can download to mobile devices, tablets and computers, there will be a physical component available later this year. According to the press release it features “an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit enabling real time decoding in 1080p at 144Hz or 4K at 60Hz.”

Even without the physical box, the app claims to offer up zero latency over any internet connection higher than 15 Mbps along with “A dedicated high end NVIDIA graphics solution for a perfect image in 1080p at 144Hz or 4K at 60Hz. 8 dedicated threads on an Intel Xeon server processor equivalent to a Core i7, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space.”

Blade is already in France and will be arriving in California on February 15th. Full availability for the rest of the US should be coming summer 2018.

However, this is not a free service. Pricing ranges from $34.95/month after a one-year commitment to $49.95 to try it out for one month.

If this service works the way it claims to, it could be great for gamers who have trouble coming up with large lump sums of money to keep their gaming rig up to date. Even beyond gaming, users who need a lot processing power for things video editing or graphic design could add this on top of say, an Adobe creative cloud subscription.

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot